Ranch Versatility show

The weekend of our show was finally upon us.  Having the part time job has really cut into my riding time, but I was still managing to get in 3 rides a week, some times more, and while I knew we were far from perfect, I felt pretty decent about how it was going to go.

The plan was for me to ride Trax in all the RV classes and my little friend Rhiannon would ride Melody in the youth classes, minus the trail, and I would also ride Melody in the Ranch Reining and work a cow.  I can only have one point horse at the show so I chose Trax, and Melody was just for a judged score and critique....and the practice at working a cow on her in a big arena.  I have only done sorting and reining on her, so was excited for the chance to try holding a cow on the fence with her.  

I ended up being sick all day Friday, behind schedule all day Saturday, and a nervous wreck by Sunday.  Luckily the kid was calm and helped me relax as well.  It seemed like every time I turned around some little thing was going wrong and I was starting to think we were never going to make it there at all...but we did.

It was 106 and 85% humidity.  It had rained hard t the arena the night before, the warm up arena only had one spot that wasn't under water, the second warm up arena was completely under water, and half the parking lot was flooded.  The storm the night before had also taken out the well pump so there was not much water available for the horses either.  Luckily I carried my own, but when I got there and saw that the cows (which I had secured and was responsible for) had no water, I was livid!!!

I managed to get that handled, got our horses saddled, and we started warming up the ponies.  Melody mostly just needs to get limber and acclimated to her surroundings.  Trax isn't bothered by surroundings as much as energy in the air and it usually takes 30-45 minutes of riding to get him to a place mentally where he is ready to relax and remember that he has a rider on board.

In 10 minutes we were all dripping in sweat.

The arena was covered so we had shade and that did help some, although sometimes the air was more stifling under the cover than out in the sun.   I had originally planned on wearing a long sleeve white western shirt.  But was wearing a sleeveless western shirt while warming up.  I was so hot and ready to die, I never did switch to my show shirt.  I probably should have, and would have looked more professional, but by that time I didn't care, and the club rules state "An attempt at western wear", and I was wearing a western shirt....soooooo.

I never did feel like I was able to connect to Trax that day.  We would do our usual "Lope nice big relaxed circles" but in a few minutes he was so hot I had to stop.  I don't know how to explain this, but I don't think it is the hot and tired part that "warms" him up.  It is more like it is the number of foot falls that he makes.

Melody looked like she had just been hosed down in about five minutes and pretty much stayed that way all day.

Looking back I can admit to being more nervous than I should have been.  I knew my horses would do okay.  I know their strong points and their weaknesses.  I know my own short comings as well.

We had a lot of new contestants this time around, and lots of them were really good.  One trainer from Tucson brought several of his students up with him, and they pretty much monopolized the show,  I am not complaining in the least.  It was nice to have good riders there so that we could see what it is we are striving to become.  These riders were friendly and gracious and, as I found out later, just as nervous as I was!

I'm not going to go into detail about every class.  Lets just suffice to say that Trax and I DQ'd in almost every class.  I forgot patterns, he forgot I was there, I forgot where my hands belong, and a few times I used 2 hands.

Melody really struggled with the classes that required her to work in and out of trail obstacles.   Rhi, got her through it, but it knocked her placings down to second out of 2 every single time.  However she did excellent on the flag boxing AND got first in youth reining.

The one thing that really kind of screwed things up for me was when they rearranged the class orders which had me riding Melody in adult reining before Rhi was done with all of her classes.  That meant that I did not have time to switch saddles our and ended up doing our reining in a youth saddle.  Still we completed the pattern with no major flaws.  However, the judges did not realize that a non-point horse still gets judged, so they wrote down no notes at all, gave me no score what so ever.  So I have no idea where I did good and where I did horribly.

When it came time to work the cows, I was up first on Trax.  I have to get major props to my paint horse.  He did really really well.  Granted he doesn't make the fancy cutting moves like Melly does, but we held our cow, on the end, on the fence AND turned it in a circle.  He was working hard to keep his butt up underneath him, and I was not at all unhappy with our run.  He ended up placing 5th but from what I understand was later bumped up to 4th because one of the riders was scored on 2 horses and should not have been.

Once Trax was done I yanked his saddle and threw it up on Melly.  The sun was down by now and a storm was rolling in so it was much cooler.  I had soaked Melly down some with a wet rag and she was no longer dripping in sweat like she was before.  Her energy level was back to normal and Ifelt pretty good about the up coming run.  Keep in mind that I have only ever worked her on a cow in a sorting pen.

We called for the cow and I pushed it up along the fence.  We then turned it up the fence and pushed it down towards the other end.  The cow was kind of getting away from us so I kicked her up to a run. We caught up with the cow and he looked like he was ready to stop and turn back so I checked her down some.  Just that instant the dirty cow saw that tiny sliver of day light in front of Melody and took off again.  Well so did my horse.  She was NOT going to let that cow get away so she bolted after him, and I was ready for it.  I had both hands up towards her ears urging her forward past the cow. When she got just past his head she did her job and cut back to the left to push him back from where he came.

That is where she lost me.

She cut left, and I was not in my seat where I should have been and I went right off the other side.

I landed on my hip and my shoulder, and I clearly recall cussing as I went down the other side.  I also clearly recall thinking "Please God, don't let my foot get caught in the stirrup."  and looking at my foot to make sure it didn't.

I don't know how long I was on the ground.  Not too long, I was told, but I got up and the next thing I knew my horse was there next to me, dancing nervously, and I got right back on.

The announcer said I still had time left and before I even had time to think about it, Melody was turning and heading after the cow again.

Its is a shame that no one got any of it on video,

I was told it was a graceful fall and that once I went off Melody continued to work the cow.  She held it on the fence for about 5-10 seconds while I got up off the ground. The minute she saw me up, she ran over to me, danced in place next to me, as if to say "Hurry up, he's getting away". and then we still had a full minute to work our cow, which we did.  I can't tell you for sure what we did, but we held the cow where we could and pushed it where we could until our time was up.

I knew that fall was coming some day. I have been told more than once that if I didn't learn to sit back I was going to go over, and that is what happened.  However, my horse came right to me, and I could not have been happier with her.  She did her job and did it well.

Thinking back over the earlier portion of the show, I wanted to blame Trax for all the issues we had in the arena, but after looking at the pictures I know that I was just as much at fault as he was.  I was trying to ride one handed as much as possible and for some reason I cannot seem to remember to lower my one hand.

So here are a few of the photos a friend of mine took.  I am sharing the good and the bad here, where as I did not share the bad ones on facebook, just because I don't trust most people not to be downright cruel about some of my riding abilities.  I can take criticism, in fact I welcome it, but not in the form of rudeness.

I had told my trainer type person, that perhaps Trax really isn't cut out for this, but I think I shall retract that statement.  He has not been to a public event in a very long time, and he is not the same horse he was in  WY.  He handled most of this pretty darn well, all things considered.  If we get through a year of shows and he still is able to relax any, then I will re-assess where we are going as a team.  But for now we will just keep plugging along.

One of my boarders went to watch me, and told me that she thought that Trax was the ranchiest horse out there.  I asked her to elaborate, and she told me that my ability to work through things with him, rather than having a horse who never batted an eye at anything was more reminiscent of her ranching days than any thing else she saw.  Of course she may have been a tad biased!

I did get a lot of compliments on both of my horses.  Many people commented on how nicely built they both are.  That always makes an old gal feel better!

Little girls to Love Him

It is no secret that I have been trying to trace Trax's ownership ever since I got him. I thought that I had pretty much reached a dead end and was reduced to comparing him to registered horses I saw and dreaming of what his parents looked like.

Recently I was going through horse papers so I could send off Sassy's papers to BEC. I ran across an old faded copy of an auction receipt which I knew came with Trax when I bought him. I had contacted the person who was listed as the buyer but had never been able to find the seller. 

The buyer was the one who had told me about how every time he tried to rope on him he got bucked off. 

I looked at the name of the seller again and thought "what the heck" and I plugged the name into Facebook. The name came right up, I could see that she was a horse person and was from Northern WY, so I was reasonably sure that I was on the right track. Then I noticed that she and I had a mutual friend. It was none other than the love of my life, TC.  Figures!

So I sent her a message with a photo of my boy. I sent it from my account and from TC's.  I waited a couple of weeks and got no response so I figured I must have had the wrong person or perhaps her experience was so bad she didn't want to talk about it.  

This morning I was drinking my coffee,checking my Facebook and much to my surprise there was a response.She told me that,yes they had owned him and his name was "Sota".  They had purchased him from somewhere back east and brought him to WY.  He was a trail horse when they bought him and her girls had ridden him a lot and he loved those girls very much. They were equally fond of him.  Then they trained him to be a fair heel horse and ran him through their production sale. 

I was really surprised by this story as I would never in a million years feel safe putting a kid on my run away freight train. not even one who was an experienced rider. He is just too unpredictable. 

I had to ask how old her girls were and if they ever had a problem with him when they were roping. 

She swore that they never did and she sent me this. 

This is her 12 year old daughter riding him bareback in a halter. 

She doesn't even have a death grip on him!!

He is not trying to run away with her.  He doesn't even looked concerned that her legs are dangling by his side.  

(keep in mind that the one time we tried to ride this horse bareback he bolted uncontrollably and my friend who was on him had to bail into a mound of dirt.  If I even kick my feet out of the stirrups when walking, he gets very upset instantly)

It kind of brings to question, what the hell happened to this horse?

How did he go from being a perfectly good trail horse, safe for youth to ride, to being a run away freight train who is so unpredictable I'm afraid to let hardly anyone else ride him.   

Of course I may be a bit over reactive because I am sure that any experienced rider could handle him just fine.  It isn't like he is a bad horse.

Anyway, once I got done crying over this picture (more happy tears than not) I started thinking about what I know about his journey.  

We will start at the beginning.  

He was born in 1999 somewhere back east.  (that was the most she could tell me there)  He was a perfectly acceptable trail horse.  He was purchased by the MC family whose young girls rode him extensively (bareback in a halter). I was told that he absolutely loved those girls.  The MC family buys and sells horses for a living, so they taught him to be a heel horse and then put him in their production sale.  He was a perfectly acceptable heel horse, according to MC herself. 

He was purchased for the sum of $3000 by the JC family.  The Matriarch of this family is listed as the buyer.  She is a barrel racer and roper.  She has several sons, one of whom decided that he was going to take "the paint horse" and further his roping training.  He didn't get far with this though, as every 5th or 6th cow the paint horse would "take to bucking, and he weren't nice about it either.  Put me in the dirt many times."  Now just for the record, I do not know the JC family personally, but TC grew up with them.  They are Bascos and known for their short tempers.  Also livestock are not feeling animals, but tools for them.   So one can imagine all sorts of evil scenarios, but a middle of the road guess is that he took to bucking one time too many (for what ever reason) and it became a clash between the short temper and a horse who is pretty good at shutting down and getting himself out of what he considers to be a bad situation.  

The JC family sold him to a kid who was living with the daughter of a family who ran rough stock.  I know that he tried to rope on him, and according to the girls father she "tried some of that fancy nonsense training" that everyone is into today but it didn't work with him.   He also said that they had attempted to use him to round up rough stock but that went very badly.  Of course one has to ask, did they also attempt to see if he would make a decent bareback bronc?  Of course I'll never know the answer, but one can always speculate.  Especially since clearly he used to be fine with bareback riding, and now he isn't.  

Then he was sold to SM for who only bought him because he felt bad for the kid and the girl who "needed money badly."  SM rode him 2 times in the year that he owned him, but most of the time he was left to stand in a pasture with two other horses.  SM had no clue of his history what so ever.  No one said "He can be a little broncy" or even that he was hard headed.  They just said, "He'd make a great heel horse, we've roped off of him a few times."  SM did not need a horse, did not want a horse, but wanted to help the folks out so he bought him.  

I bought him a year later and of course the rest of that is chronicled between here and face book.  

Sure there is a lot of blanks which will never be filled in.  And of course I will never know how accurate MC is with her info, or anyone else for that matter.  But the picture doesn't lie.  She is riding that horse in a halter, which is not something I would ever attempt.  

I want to go out and hug him and tell him I am so sorry for what ever happened to him.  I know it won't matter to him, but it might.  What I do know matters to him is that he is my horse now, and will remain so forever.  

For some reason I have concluded that my search for his past is over.  I did not press MC for more info.  I did not elaborate too much about the horse he is now, other than to say that something had gone terribly wrong in his life and that we have been working for years to get him over his fear of ropes.   She was happy to hear that he has a good home now, and she said she would make sure her girls knew too.  She said they always remembered him for some reason.  

I guess knowing that someone loved him once, besides me, is enough. 

What I have learned about running a small boarding stable after 1 year

I know I have been very absent for a long while.  With out boring job to keep me in front of a computer all day I find I have very little time for blogging.  I can do facebook from my phone pretty easy and on the go. Blogging takes a little more conscious effort.

Anyway, it has been a little over a year since I started boarding horses for other people and taking their money.  I have learned a lot in the last year and as I reflected upon those things this morning I thought it would be a nice post.  So here it is:


1. Manure Happens......A LOT!!!  It took me a while to figure out what to do with all the excess. I had more than I can feasibly spread on my small pastures.  It was suggested that I spread it in the arena but I decided against that as well. My reason is because right now I have a good amount of sand in there and when it rains it never gets soupy.  It drains off quickly and with a quick once over with the tractor is gorgeous.  I have learned that manure holds in the water and will get mucky pretty quick.  I was filling up a trailer and hauling to the dump once a month, but that was not practical for summer months,. The flies were awful.  I finally found a company which dropped off a small dumpster.  I can fill it up all week long and they come and get it once a month. Plus I can put all my other trash in there as well, so I only have one trash fee for the whole property and the fee is reasonable.

2. When deciding who to turn out with whom, always know who your alphas are.  I had thought that mares with mares, and geldings with geldings would work. I could not have been more wrong.  What I have learned is to put my Alpha mare in with the geldings, and the Alpha Gelding in with the mares, and everyone gets along just fine.  At least that is how it seems to be working right now.

3. While there are some "pain in the behind" owners out there, most boarders are pretty easy to get a long with as long as you care about their needs and about their horses. I try to follow my boarders feeding directions to a T and don't make changes without discussing it with them first.  However, I have found that most of them prefer to defer to "What every you think, Cindy,"

4. Pasture time makes for happy ponies.

5. Mosquito's make for unhappy ponies.  (I have done a lot of research in mosquito control and found a really awesome product called "Mosquito Bits" which I put on my pasture right after irrigating.  It has cut the pest population in half and is safe for grazing animals.)

6. Mosquito's seem to prefer dark meat. For some reason the dark colored horses are just plagued by them even after being sprayed. The other horses seem fine once they get sprayed.

7. By the end of a summer of irrigation and mosquito's, even the most stubborn horse will stand quietly for spraying even with out a halter.

8. Maintaining a nice pasture is a lot more work than most people realize.

9. Don't sweat the small stuff.

10.  Shavings in a stall are wonderful for keeping your horses clean, but they are a pain for cleaning...just saying.  I prefer my dry lot pens where I rake it into a pile and scoop it into the tractor.

11. Always maintain your tractor.  You will be most unhappy if you don't and it breaks.

12.  Non horsey members of your family will be very reluctant to assist you in your endeavor, and will not understand why you are busy every single evening.  They will start asking for things like dinner, and clean laundry, and help with homework.

13.  It does not take long to find yourself with a waiting list of people who would like to board at your facility.

14. If you think you have time to work a part time job and properly take care of nine horses, you are probably wrong...well at least not if you plan on having a life, and definitely if you want to ever ride again.

15.  Cleaning stalls absolutely sucks when it is 115 outside.  (just saying)

16.  If one horse gets hurt, you can bet money that every single horse on the property will try to one up that horse by getting hurt even worse.  It is like a competition for them!

.
So that is what I have learned this year.  I actually quite enjoy my little endeavor so far. Of course there are some days when I just wish there were no horses at all out there wanting my attention, but for the most part I love what I do.

I did make the mistake of taking a part time job at a feed store that just opened up down the road from me. And while I do enjoy that job, I still question whether or not it is the right thing to do.

On a side note, my horses are doing very well. Trax is back to his normal self, and Melody is looking fabulous and is totally back up to weight.  We have a show coming up in 2 weeks and I do promise to do a blog post with pictures after that. I will be taking them both.   Killian is being ridden by a young girl who wants to rope on him, which I am thrilled about.  I think he is happy about it too. He pretty much does what ever she asks him too, so it is a good match.   Sassy is no longer mine.  I sold her to BEC and she has been bred to Firewater Fooler.  I still have her here for now, but she should be heading up to her new home sometime in the next 2 months.  I will miss her very much but I know she will have the best possible care, and will produce some lovely little foals for BEC.

I hope all my blogging friends are doing well.  I have not even logged in until today in a very long time.  But I hope to start back at it.  I miss it very much.

Input please???

A couple of years ago just as I was planning trip for our move from Wyoming to Arizona, I believe I did a post about fly sprays.  However I cannot find it now.

Everyone gave me some great info on what they use, and I was given some recommendations on a couple of brands that you buy on line in gallon sized jugs.  I ended up buying one of those jugs, it worked great, and now I can't recall what they name of it was.  If you have a favorite fly spray that you use, please list it in the comments for me.

CNJ, if you are reading this, I would really really love to have the name of that feed through you had told me about.  Was in called TNT?  Because I cannot find that email either.

Thank you in advance for your input folks.

Still Catching Up

I still have some catching up to do after being gone for so long.  I try to keep it pertained to just the big events, which is easy because my days pretty much run together and become a blur.  Day to day happenings seem to just be part of the routine and are filed away in the "not so important" part of my brain.

Last month TC's 92 year old mom came down for a visit. She lives in WY, and wasn't really up for a drive so TC drove up and got her, they hopped on a plane and flew down. Then he flew with her home again and then drove back to AZ.

She is a lover of all animals, has donated most of her children's inheritance to various different rescues, and has a little dog and an angry cat of her own.  It was hard for her to leave her critters behind, but her younger sister stayed with them for her so that she could enjoy her visit without worrying.

It was hard to know what she could handle and couldn't handle as far as sight seeing, and for the first few days she was here, one of TC's daughters was also here with their kids so we stayed pretty close to home.  I did quite a bit of cooking and Edith was always asking what she could do to help. I didn't want her to have to work while she was here, so I told her "nothing" and urged her to go enjoy her time to relax.

On the 3rd day she got up and said very sternly, "I have to have something to do!!!" So I handed her a broom and let her go.  She pulled weeds for me, and helped with the cooking, and was much happier then. She liked to pull the weeds and give them to the horses.  She decided that since only some of the horses would eat them, I was not feeding those horses enough.

She absolutely loved the kitties, and the dogs.  

Oh...the dogs.

I almost forgot.   How could I forget?????

The first morning she was here we lost our sweet old dog Butch.

He had been fine the day before, had his walk, fought with the dogs next door through the fence, ate his dinner just fine, laid there and barked at the voices in his head as we watched TV, and then went to bed in Simon's room. The next morning I got up and could not find him.

I went to the back yard and he was laying in the grass which was soaking wet from the sprinklers.  His breathing was very labored and he was shivering.  I brought him inside and we wrapped him in a fuzzy blanket.  I knew what was happening.

We all knew.

Simon sat there with him for a while, while I went and got TC.  We gathered around our sweet old guy and rubbed him till he stopped shivering.  He took a deep breath and exhaled and that was it.  His heart stopped and he was gone.

It was hard....oh so hard, but I could not have asked for a better ending for him, or for Simon.  We dug a big hole out behind the arena, and laid him to rest. Simon made a cross for him, and every time I ride, I get to say hello to him.

Even Edith cried for that one.  It was almost as hard on her as it was on us.  Like I said, she is a true lover of animals.

I believe these were the last two photos I ever took of him.  He was such a good dog.  Never gave us any trouble from the day I brought him home.  Morning walks just aren't the same without him.

Anyway, we did finally take Edith to see some sights.  She insisted on walking everywhere. We went to the Casa Grande Ruins, and the Desert Botanical Gardens.  I believe she enjoyed them both very much.

We also drove around the Superstition Mountain a little bit.  I think she is less impressed with the desert than I am.  Understandable I guess.

So now it is back to life as usual, I am at full capacity on boarding now, but am loosing two horses in a few days.  They are going up north to cooler weather.

I have gotten all my pens divided so I have 9 all together.  That is enough boarders to actually support all of my horses.  I will have 2 empty spots when the two walking horses leave, but I don't think they will stay empty for too long.  I believe I have gained a pretty decent reputation in the area for being a great place to board at.

Two of my boarders you folks have not met yet.

One of them is "Buddy", a retired rope horse of about 20.  He bears the marks of a horse who has worked hard most of his life, is easy going, and starting to thrive nicely with his new owner.  She is very hands on, stops by several times a week, and is great fun to hang out with.  She is a retired roper too, so they are perfect for each other.

The other one came in with no real name.  They just called him Mr. Grey.  Mr. Grey has a truly touching story.  He was at an auction in TX, was purchased by a kill buyer, and was waiting to head to slaughter.  The kill buyer has a sister in law who rescues, and he is always will to sell her any horse she wants off of his truck at meat price.  She found the big grey horse a new owner, and he was transported to AZ.  They had a temporary housing for him while he was fully vetted and quarantined. His new owner is just getting back into horses with the help of a friend who barrel races, and so a boarding facility needed to be found.  Turns out, barrel racing friend and I know each other, although the new owner didn't know that when she called to inquire about boarding.

Mr. Grey came to us just last week. He is still a little underweight but his owner has been working hard to get him healthy and he is starting to look good.  He is huge!  Bigger than Melody and when he gets back up to full weight, will be as wide as Killian.  Mr. Grey also just got his name yesterday.  It is Sterling.  It fits him perfectly.

Sterling is another wonderful horse.  11 years old, he is actually a registered QH and they are working on getting his papers.  His original owner loaned him to a guy to try for heading, and the guy was supposed to come back and pay for the horse.  However, he never came back, phone got disconnected, and owner never saw his horse again.  The rescuers contacted him and asked if he wanted his horse back, but he is just happy that he has a good home, and said no.

Buddy is the dark guy and Sterling is the big grey

Buddy and Sterling really like each other.  They spend a lot of time grooming each other, and hanging out together.  Trax hangs out with them too.  I am really hoping that once the two spotted walkers are gone I can put Killian in with the other three geldings and have an all gelding herd that gets along.   OR....Killian will just have to be alone.

For now it is time to go clean pens, and get some saddle work done.  The season has slowed down here, but I still have lots to work on out there.

I think that catches me up on all major events.

Killian and the Camel

Last week I was going to go sorting for the first time in quite some time.  I was super excited, and woke up that morning full of life and energy.  I went out to feed my horses and Sassy and Melody had managed to tear down 2 panels, and Melody was standing there with a torn up leg.

It wasn't serious, and I was pretty pissed and swore I was going to sort on her anyway.  4 pm rolled around and she was starting to stock up and I had to admit that there was just no way that she was up for it.

Sooooo I pulled out the big red horse instead.

Rather than use his saddle I went for my Crates Cutting Saddle, (because I have yet to sort in it) It is a wide gullet so I felt it would be good enough for him.  I mounted up and headed down the road and around the corner to our sorting location.

At the end of my road I ran into my farrier and his kids all on their horses, they were headed over to a different neighbors to go roping.  All his kids rope, both boys and his 5 year old daughter.  Its pretty awesome.   We exchanged a few pleasantries and I headed on my way.

Killian got a little ancy, and wanted to go back with them.  I kicked him forward and he gave me a couple little crow hops.

WHAAAAAT??????

I scolded him severely, got off and checked his saddle, saw that the rear cinch was a little tight and managed to get it secure on the veeeeery last hole to loosen it up.   Clearly this saddle is not for him after all.  But no matter, we moved on.

When we got to where we were going, where the camel also lives (the one I expected Trax to lose his mind over but didn't) I felt that given the crow hops, it would be best to play it safe and approach on foot.

We walked up the drive, and made it about 100 ft from the camel and Killian's head went straight up and he started sounding the alarm.  You know, that huge exhale whistle that a horse will do when there is danger.  I laughed at him, told him "Easy big boy" and took another step towards the big scary beast.

I then saw a side of Killian I did not know existed.  He bolted and ran for the far corner of the property.  By doing so he ripped the reins out of my hand, and they were flying behind him like hair extensions on his mane.

When I got to him he was still whistling with every breath, he was literally shaking, and his eyes were as big and white as I have ever seen them.

I got him caught easily enough and we spent the next 10 minutes trying to get him to just walk forward.  I tried side passing, backing up, but as soon as he got near that camel he blew up again.  He never did stop with the whistling.

Mike, the camel came to the fence to touch noses and be friends, Killian tried to rip my arm off in his attempt to get away from him.

Finally Lori brought her horse over to Killian, put her between Killian and Mike, and we did our best to get Killian to the arena.  It finally worked and then I spent another 20 min just moving him in circles (lunging on a split rein- which totally sucks).  He would calm down for a a second and then start with the alarm again.  His eyes never stopped bulging from his head.

I said to Lori, "I don't think sorting on him is going to work tonight."

"I wouldn't get on that horse, look at his eyes, he is not thinking of anyone but himself right now."

Looking back I think to myself, if I was a real cowgirl, I'd have gotten on him and worked him out of it.

Guess I'm giving up the cowgirl status then because there was no way in H-E double toothpicks, that I was going to ride him right then.

So then came the daunting task of trying to lead him back out past poor Mike, who wouldn't hurt a flea and just wants to be friends.

In the process of that he almost ran me over a couple of times.  This is Killian.  He has the most respectful ground manners of all my horses.  So when he darn near knocked me down, we went to war.  I smacked him with the reins across the chest.  I started pushing him sideways and I got really big and scary with him, until he started to notice that I was there.

I led him back out the front gate, asked him to stand still and he ran circles around me.  So I pushed him sideways half way down the road.  I admit to cussing and call him all kinds of nasty names, and while I never wailed on him or anything like that, I darn sure was not nice.

Finally he calmed down enough to walk behind me...still whistling, and huffing a puffing, but at least not running me over.  Once we turned the corner I asked him to stand still so I could get on.  Instead he chose to run circles around me, so I chose to push him sideways some more.

Lather, rinse and repeat multiple times until we got to my road.  He finally stood still and I got on.  Then I kicked him up to a trot and we went down past our house to the other end of the street and back up again.  We turned in the driveway and I know he thought we were done....but he was wrong.
Now that I was on him, he was going to work, and so I took him to the arena and rode the hair off him.

Poor guy (pfffft!!!) was exhausted by time we were done.  We loped circles, we did roll backs, we did sliding stops, and we did it again and again and again until his head was dropped and he said, "I give."

I walked him out, till he was breathing normal and then he got a hose down and treat.  He got the treat just to let him know that we were still friends. He got his butt worked just to let him know that even though we are friends, I am still the one in charge.

I don't think I have ridden him since then until yesterday.  We went on a desert trail ride with my new boarder.  He was a total gem for the entire trip, until........

He saw a baby ground squirrel on the power pole.

Apparently, ground squirrels look much like camels.

Luckily this time all he did was shy sideways (I was told it was poetry in motion) and then snort a few times.

Goofy old horse!

Hello Stranger!

I realized the other day that it has been forever since I have done a blog post.  In fact I don't think I have done one since Trax was sick.

Obviously time flies when you are moving slow!

So some quick updates:

Trax is doing great.  Last blood tests showed that his liver enzymes were darn near normal, and all other blood work was dead on where it should be.   BEC was kind enough to send me some info on herbal supplements for liver health and he has been on those ever since.  He has gained his weight back, without going overboard, and is back in training for......well what ever it is I am training him for.  At this point I just don't know.  However we have another little local western and ranch versatility show 7 days from now, and he will be entered.

He appears to be less than thrilled about this news.  We have been working on our reining patterns, stops and "spins".  The sad part is that his stops would probably be fabulous if I could just learn to sit them right.  Dana taught him that when you touch his neck, the stop is coming.  I gotta tell ya, it is one of the coolest new tools in my toolbox.  When I touch his neck, he stops...right now.

It is such an amazing tool I have carried it over to Killian and Melody.  Again, it would be perfect if I could just sit the stops correctly, but seriously when you touch Melly's neck, she stops so fast, sometimes she almost loses me.  Killian has begun surprising me by laying down some of the most gorgeous 11's in the dirt I have ever seen.  They aren't 20 feet long mind you.  But hey, 3 ft sliding marks from a 21 year old horse is pretty darn impressive in my book.

The sequence is supposed to be "touch, whoa, lift"  I tend to be more like "touch, lose my balance, and throw my hands up in the air".  Yeah I have no clue what that is all about, but I'm working on it, and when I can get it right, even Trax gives me some pretty nice stops.  Dana has been coming semi regularly to help us out, so I know I will eventually get it figured out.  She is quite good at figuring out how to get me to understand, and physically carry out a task, even when "normal techniques" elude me.

Yesterday Trax and I worked on log dragging.  It has been a while since we have visited this. In fact I am not sure that we have done it since "that day" when things went so terribly awry.  I have spent much time contemplating what I should have done differently. Not so much on "that day" but just in general. obviously there was a terrible hole in his training....a large, swallow you up, bury you in darkness, and get you all jacked up, hole.  We fell into the gaping chasm, and it is up to me to get us out and to fill that hole with concrete.

I thought back to where we first started, in WY.  I clearly recall asking Mark, "Can I have him ready for the show in 1 month?"  He promised to do his best, but he also said that he would not be "really ready".

We had done the task at the show, we had done it even in practice.  But every time we did it, there was always tension in him, and me, and I was constantly having to check him back.  He was doing it, but he was never relaxed about it.

I rushed it.

So yesterday we started at the beginning.  I rubbed him with the rope and he was fine.  Head down, no stress. That was good.  Then I hooked the rope around the horn and we started dragging.  He was jiggy and nervous, I left a good length of rope behind us until he calmed down and stayed calm. Then I shortened the rope up so there was a little more tension.  We did figure 8, after figure 8, until he did 2 in a row without throwing his head up or even taking one unrelaxed step.  He was licking and chewing, with his head down. I resisted the urge to keep going further and stopped right there.  We took the log to the fence and when I released the tension he let out a huge sigh. I loosened the cinch right there and gave him major lovins.   It was a good place to stop.

Next time we will do the same thing, I have decided that I will stay on the ground with him until we can do this 3 separate days with no tension in him what so ever.  Once we can do that I will get up on him.   So, that means that if he is not ready to drag a log by next Sunday, we will take the DQ and not attempt the task.  It isn't worth it to me just for a silly old ribbon.

See, I really do learn!

Princess Melody has been on her own medical rehab.  She put her hind foot through a fence while fighting with Sassy.  I found her shortly after it happened, with some pretty good scrapes running from the hock to fetlock.  A couple of small cuts were also present, but she was not limping on it, so I didn't worry about a vet.  I scrubbed her up, slathered on some Natures Edge to keep it pliable and keep the flies off and gave her a small dose of bute.

The next day she was pretty stocked up, and not lame so much, but clearly stiff and sore.  She got more bute and the cleaning ritual.  That was about a week and a half ago.  She has remained a little stocked up, but completely sound, so again, I am not too worried.  When she is out in pasture and moving around me the swelling goes down to almost nothing.  Exercise seems to be the key to keeping the swelling down.  Makes sense to me, so I went ahead and saddled her up for a ride yesterday.

Can I just say that I have never in my life met a horse so stubborn and set in her ways as this one. What she knows, she knows well, and as long as I communicate clearly, we do fabulously.  But this mare has ZERO interest in learning anything new.  I mean none whatsoever.   I realize that I have to be tougher that her, and insist, but after hours of fighting over the simplest thing, I finally come to the point where I start to question if it even matters.  Is it ok for her to just be a reined cowhorse, and give up on things like stepping over poles?

Oddly enough, a few weeks ago I took her to a neighbors house who had some barrels set up and on a whim we did a little barrel pattern, first at a trot and then at a lope.  We loped the first barrel she didn't shy away from it like she does at home, we headed towards the second barrel, she did her lead change before I even asked for it and turned the second barrel with out me really even asking her too.  Then she headed off towards the 3rd like she knew what she was doing, made quite a nice little turn and headed for home.

I was flabbergasted.

Granted, I am not going take her out and start running barrels on her, I just don't think her hind end could handle it physically,  but I swear this horse is an anomaly to me.

There is much more to update on....Killian and the camel, the new boarder horse, Jimmy the sheath cleaning guy, and just life in general. But those are all posts that will have to come on another day.  The sun is up high, ponies are banging around the feeders, and dogs are stalking me for breakfast.

It is nice to be back here where I can write down all my thoughts, and share them with others.  It was also nice to go through your blogs and get caught up on what has been happening in your worlds.  I have missed being here.  I need to come back more often.